A black shadow stretched across the light blue water. The vast black wings of an Ayulon stretched out completely, cutting the wind, casting black shadows on the fine sand of the seafloor. The warm sunshine shined on the smooth scales, refracting the halo of dreams, like waves, from the root to the tip of the wings.

  Auguste returned to his dragon shape, carrying Hai’an as they flew over the main star, picking out the big trees for their two settlements.

  Hai’an pulled out green vines to tie himself to Auguste’s dragon neck, then sat on his back, and used wind magic to prop up a protective shield to prevent him from being blown away by the strong wind-generated in flight.

  “Auguste, that tree.” Hai’an touched the dark red soft scales behind Auguste’s neck and told him that he had found the tree he wanted to live in. After Auguste turned into a dragon, he could hardly hear what Hai’an said. But before he returned to Ayulon, Auguste told Hai’an that there were different scales on his neck. When Hai’an found the tree he wanted to live, he touched the scales, and he would stop.

  Sure enough, after Hai’an gently touched the dark red scales with his thin white palm, Auguste let out a silent cry and folded up his wings and landed in the shallow sea.

  “Which one?” Auguste hugged Hai’an, stood on the soft sea and bowed his head to ask Hai’an.

  Hai’an hugged Auguste’s neck, looked up against the sun at Auguste – Auguste’s facial features were very deep and cold, but when he looked at Hai’an, he would always unconsciously soften his expression, eyes full of affection and love that he had not noticed.

  Seeing Hai’an staring at him, Auguste smiled and asked, “Do you think your lover is super handsome?”


  Hai’an: “…”


  Auguste may be playing a hooligan again.

  Hai’an patted Auguste’s handsome face: “Let me down.”


  “I can walk with you in my arms.”


  Hai’an was a little embarrassed. He wore the elf robe that Auguste made for him; it was good when he stood, but in Auguste’s arms, the clothes would stick to him.

  “No, I’ll be very distressed if you get tired.” Hai’an lied openly, pedaled off Auguste’s arms, and hurried forward a few steps as if to hide something.

  Auguste looked at Hai’an’s back, and his dark red eyes narrowed slightly. “JianJian, are you not wearing underwear?”


  Hai’an grew stiff and stopped. Auguste stepped forward and pinched his ear.

  “Ah – don’t pinch…” Hai’an gave a low cry and looked piteously at Auguste, covering his ears.

  “What about underwear? Where did you hide it?”


  “By me… Burn…” Hai’an hung his head and whispered.

  Auguste laughed at Hai’an. He raised Hai’an’s chin and bit him on his soft face, leaving two rows of neat tooth marks, “You have learned to destroy the remains of the dead.”


  Hai’an knew his own fault, pulled Auguste’s arm, pointed to an enormous tree ahead, and wanted to divert the topic, “Auguste, let’s go and see that tree.” After that, Hai’an took the initiative to lead Auguste by the hand to the tree. Hai’an reached out and touched the rough bark and asked, “Auguste, what’s the name of this tree? There seems to be little white flowers on this tree.”


  In Nore, the elves lived in tree houses. They were thick, but some are short; they could only be made into two-story treehouses at most. Only the Queen and elders lived in these trees, which could be made into three stories. This treehouse in Auguste’s home town was not only thicker than the ones Hai’an remembered but also several times higher, probably to facilitate the free access of the Ayulons original bodies.

  Auguste raised his head along with Hai’an’s hand and was stunned when he saw the tree. He touched Hai’an’s head and said softly, “This tree is called Adel. It was originally a person’s name. Legend has it that he was the ancestor of Ayulon. He brought tree species from the deep sea. In memory of him, people named it Adel.”


  “Ah.” Hai’an’s eyes lit up. “You also have legends, and our legends seem to be that our elves live in trees, called Pyrus. Do you know why this is?”


  Hai’an had grown a little taller these days and was now to Auguste’s chest. He saw Hai’an pulling his clothes and looking at him expectantly with clear eyes like emeralds. Auguste only felt that his heart was as soft and sweet as summer ice cream. He took Hai’an to his arms and asked, “Why?”


  “There are ten races in my world, one race was called dwarfs, and they generally grow up… Shorter. About tens of thousands of years ago, dwarves and elves were good friends. When the gods came to Nore, they only created seven races. Three of them were later independent. The dwarves and the elves who lived together in the forest were friendly. Pyrus, the elder of the dwarf race, found a kind of tree to dig and live in. In the early days of Nore, there were frequent wars among races, and the dwarves and the elves signed friendly contracts. To show his sincerity, the elder Pyrus gave the elves the trees peculiar to the dwarf’s habitat, and the elves sent priests to teach some of the dwarves gifted elves’ magic and healing skills.

  “So the elves later lived in trees, and the dwarfs who were good at forging and metallurgy also had highly gifted elf priests. But later, some of the Elves were tempted by the devil tribe; they separated the relationship between the dwarves and the elves. The friendship contract was torn up by the elders and queens of both sides. The elves recalled the elves in the dwarf tribe. The dwarves also vowed that they would never live in the Pyrus tree where the elves also lived. They moved to the snowy mountain on the plateau to live in caves, and the dwarves in the plain also dug their own nests. Instead of continuing to live in the cave, the Pyrus tree was used as a gate.

  “At the same time, the fallen elves lurking in the elf tribe launched a rebellion and conspired with the devil tribe to slaughter other elves wantonly, which shocked the angels. When it came to the devil tribe, they finally sent a six-winged angel to suppress the rebellion and cursed the rebellious elves. From then on, the dark elves were born: their hair, eyes, and skin were all dark black or grey was never the same as a white elf with bright golden hair.

  “… That’s how the Elf War came about.” Hai’an’s mood was somewhat depressed, “I was not yet an adult, did not read the history books, but read about once, I do not remember why the ten races fought, but since I was born, they have been fighting for more than a thousand years.”


  Auguste hugged Hai’an tighter: “I haven’t finished telling you the legend of the Adel Tree, which actually has a name, Peace Tree.”


  “Why?”


  “Because it will blossom.” Auguste picked up a small white flower floating in the shallow sea and placed it in Hai’an’s hand. “This is its flower. It is said that when it blossoms, it is the time when the war stops.”


  Hai’an lifted the white flower up to his eyes and said, “It’s beautiful. I like this flower, let’s live here! “


  “Good.” Auguste touched Hai’an’s long silver hair. He did not tell Hai’an that the white flower of the Adel tree was legendary because it had not blossomed for 100,000 years. Even the older generation of Ayulon forgot whether it would blossom or not. They thought it was only a legend.

  “Do we live in the heart of trees?”


  “No, we live on a platform between the branches.”


  Hai’an was even more curious when he heard the words, “I want to go up and see it.”


  Hai’an put his hands on the trunk, grew a bunch of vines, and then wove them into a soft ladder, straight into the crown: “Let’s climb up.” After that, Hai’an grasped the vine and climbed up, climbing several meters in a few seconds.

  The elves lived in the forest, and they were basically vegetarian. They climbed trees and picked fruits easily. Even the trees as tall as Adel were nothing to Hai’an.

  Auguste learned from Hai’an how to grasp a vine, but before he started climbing, he just pulled the vine apart.

  Auguste: “…” Am I really heavy?

  Instead of losing face in front of Hai’an, Auguste stepped back a few steps, turned back into a dragon, put Hai’an in his paws and flew to the top of the tree.

  Hai’an had climbed the rattan ladder well, but later only felt light, a flower in front of his eyes. When he came back to his mind again, they had reached the platform on the top of the tree.

  “Wow!” Hai’an stared and sighed. He had never seen such a funny place before.

  Adel’s treetop was not a dense branch, but a natural circular platform. The branches were all closed around the platform, forming a circle of railings, leaving only a gap for people to enter and leave, then wove a dome on the top of the head, leaving only a hole in the center. During the day, the sun shines through the hole on the top of the tree.

  “There’s a bed.” Auguste put his arm around Hai’an’s waist from behind and pointed to a protruding platform on the left of the terrace. “But I have to get out the stairs first, or I won’t be able to get up.”


  Hai’an looked back excitedly. “Can we really live here in the future?”


  “Yes.” Auguste laughed and pushed away from the messy hair because of Hai’an’s sudden turn. The original cold and hard features were so soft that his dark red eyes were full of Hai’an’s reflection. “There will be stars and worms here at night, like zirconium and gold, shining bright, and the dome will not leak rain. We can stay here all the time, if you want to go to other places, we will travel through the stars, I’ll take you on the ship…” Auguste said, stamping a kiss on Hai’an’s forehead.

  Hai’an was a little red, and he thought nobody should be here. He took the initiative to hold Auguste and buried his face in his chest. He listened to his steady and robust heartbeat but missed Auguste’s rare white-toothed smile.

  You are like a little star, waking me up gently at the window in the middle of the night and bringing me into the quiet night sky. Even if you throw me into the unknown darkness, you have no way of escaping, because you have embraced me and we will shine together.